1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate, in general, to electronic communication. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems for use of encrypted media in electronic communication.
2. Description of the Background Art
In electronic communication, as in many other fields, with the advent of cryptographic protection mechanisms, there has been an increased expectation related to privacy. In addition, there is also an increased intent for security of sensitive information. For example, IP telephony requires close monitoring and safeguarding of session-keying material as well as encrypted communication. However, networks are required to diagnose problems, particularly with voice communication using the pure/unencrypted media streams.
With the advent of encryption, access to these pure/unencrypted media streams is adequately restricted. The media streams are encrypted with session key material, which changes for each communication session.
When a user reports a problem that occurred in a communication session, a technician tries to debug that problem. The user may describe the problem as disturbance, jitter, or bad connection. However, the technician needs to define the problem in terms of loss of packet(s) or echo or anything else. Therefore, on the basis of the description provided by the user, the technician may not be able to diagnose the problem. In this case, the technician needs to listen to the communication to recognize the problem. Therefore, a line-tap is set up to capture these session keys, which can be used to listen to the encrypted media streams. However, in certain situations like military applications, the technician may not have the permission to listen to the complete communication. This is because the information exchanged in the communication is confidential. Therefore, the information must be screened before it is provided to the technician. This information may be transmitted to a reviewer, who will screen it. In this case, the information must be securely transmitted to maintain its confidentiality.